32M, halfway to my goal, here's what I'm noticing works!

Hi all! Like many of you I'm sure, I'm on my second weight loss journey, but my first one in about a decade (since my early 20s). I'm a 32M, 5'9, and trying to go from 268.6 lbs to 220 for my first goal! I began the journey on August 5th, 2021, and my goal was to be 220 lbs by Christmas and 210 or lower by my 33rd birthday in June 2022. The goals are so different because, given my first weight loss journey, I learned the weight falls off much faster at the beginning and then once you start to hit plateaus, it takes a little longer. For several reasons I feel this isn't just another weight loss journey, it's a permanent lifestyle change. I want to first start off that weight loss and lifestyle varies and is subjective to everyone, but here's what I'm noticing has helped now that I'm over the halfway mark of my first goal and currently 237.8 lbs.

1. Weigh myself every day. This is hardest at the beginning, when you feel the shame of how heavy you are. This is also difficult when you first start to see weight fall off, only to see a pound or two creep back up. Your body weight is fluid, don't get discouraged and keep weighing yourself. Progress tracked is progress gained, so I keep a note in my phone that I update every morning after my shower.

2. No fast food. As someone who LOVES fast food, this was difficult. In order to limit my exposure to fast food, I deleted all food delivery apps on my phone. A bonus effect of this is, aside from my weight loss so far, is the savings I've noticed in my bank account! Food delivery adds up.

3. I started intermittent fasting. My eating window every day is 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and outside of this time I allow myself only black coffee or water. However, life happens and to avoid causing anxiety for myself, I've created a soft window for this. I violate my fast for special occasions, such as a birthday or a night out with friends, but I'm also cognizant of what I eat in those situations, if anything. I've found this to be very helpful, and I use the Fastic app to track my water intake, stop and start my fasts, and my daily steps.

4. Started walking way more. I have a dog, and there were days I would cheat myself and my dog where I would rationalize not going on our usual long route. I stopped this. I don't have a soft rule for this, it's a hard rule, my and my doggo stick with our longest possible route every day, with a shorter one in the morning before work, rain or shine. Benefits of this include a good feeling of sticking to a standard I've set for myself, getting quality time with my favourite podcasts, and my dog seems much happier too!

5. No beer. This was harder than fast food. I've completely cut out beer, and I've made a personal promise to myself that my next beer will be on my 33rd birthday IF I hit my goal of 210 or less. Now, I haven't cut out alcohol completely. I drink hard seltzers, wine, and bourbon. I'm now at the point where I don't miss beer and I even bring my own drinks to my beer league hockey games and enjoy a 100 calorie parking lot hard seltzer (or two) after the game instead of a 250 to 280 calorie IPA.

6. Diet. In my first weight loss journey, I learned many things but the biggest was and still is this: you can't out work a bad diet. I am not Olympic champion Michael Phelps. I cannot eat, nor do I require, thousands and thousands of calories a day. At home, I eat a 90% vegetarian diet. Yogurt and cereal, scrambled eggs with peppers and onions wrapped in a homemade pita for a breakfast burrito, potato/pepper/onion hashes, pastas with various sauces, curry on rice, perogies, etc. Additionally, I try to make everything from scratch as much as possible.

7. This is the last thing, and from past experience I know it's most important. In my first successful weight loss journey, when I hit my goal I treated it like a final destination, like if I hit this arbitrary number the weight will never come back. I was wrong. I am implementing a PERMANENT lifestyle change, not going on a journey. That's what I am doing, and that's what I have made peace with. Will I be more liberal about putting things in my body that I'm currently not right now when I hit my goal, like beer? Absolutely, that will be a nice reward! However, will I let beer replace what I am doing to lose the weight? No. Will I continue to monitor my weight daily and if I see an uptick, will I take a break from beer? Yes. Will I continue to respect my soft fasting window, even after I hit my goal? Yes.

What I am doing works for me. I've discussed it with my doctor, and once I got over the mental hurdles and accepted this is what I'm going to do it became just... a part of me. I've referred to this as a weight loss journey, but I'm starting to hate that term. Weight loss isn't a journey with a set destination to me any more. The journey is life, the destination is death, and I'm choosing to take a better (for me) path where weight loss and then maintaining the loss is a responsibility I have. If I were to offer anything other than good luck and well wishes as someone doing this again, and determined to do it for the last time, it would be this: don't give up. You can do it.

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